The Loser
by Below Balace
Summary: Odd was just a runaway with a dark secret. Forming friendships and saving the world were not on his to-do list.


The Loser: Chapter One  
A/N: Read, enjoy, review! (Also, for future confusion, Raphael is exactly who you think he is. We'll get to the reasons behind his name change in a little bit).

* * *

"_I think you'll find; everybody loves a loser."  
-Everybody Loves A Loser, Morcheeba_

Yumi pushed the cup of coffee into him, refusing to relent until he firmly grasped it. He held it, letting his hands warm up before taking a small sip and promptly spitting it out.

"Does it always taste like dish soap?"

Yumi finished filling her own cup and took a long, purposeful drink. "Yeah, but you get used to it." She smiled casually and took another gulp, her eyes not quite leaving the other boy. A smirk was forming at her lips as she watched him take minute sips, struggling to keep the coffee down.

He gave up and proceeded to just keep his hand on the cup instead. At least the coffee was warm and they were dry inside the small structure that housed the vending machines. A marked difference from the torrential rain and soul-chilling wind that barraged the school.

Side by side, the two watched as the rain pounded on the ground. He braved another sip and Yumi could see the deliberation of whether or not he wanted to spit it out. He wasn't hard to read…if you knew where to look.

"So…Yumi," he drawled. "You told me you had something important to tell me. Wouldn't even let me get my things set up first. What's up? Or have you realized that you're madly in love with me."

Yumi chuckled and pushed him aside. "Shut it, you," she commanded. Her smile slipped away and her face grew more serious. "You can't go back to the factory right now."

His eyes widened. "Why not?"

Yumi sighed. "Some movie director. He thinks that it's a good setting or something like that. Security is air tight. Listen, just don't go back there, okay?"

His smirked. "I have a way of getting into places that air can't."

In a flash, Yumi had grabbed both of his shoulders. "Listen to me, Raphael! You can't get in! We're already worried that they'll find the supercomputer, we do not need to worry about them finding you too!"

He laughed. "I'll be fine, Yumi. I promise."

"No you won't," she hissed. "We almost lost you the last time."

Raphael's mouth immediately shut and he took a step back. "This is different," he said. "These people- the director- they're here for a movie. Not for me. They're not looking. I'll be fine. Plus, think about it. How much better off would I be if I was out here." He motioned to the rain.

"You can't go back there now," Yumi persisted. "Ulrich is staying there now. He won't mind if you take the room while he's gone. He'd rather if you stayed there anyway. You know that if XANA were to launch an attack while you were in the factory that…"

She trailed off for a few seconds. Then, with a cough, she continued talking, "anyway you can stay in his room. Kiwi's there and I know that he's missed you."

Raphael's mouth had been a tight line but Yumi noticed the uplifted corners at the mention of the dog. Raphael's only real friend. Before he met them, at any rate.

"It was nice of you guys to offer to keep Kiwi. Even though you'd get in trouble."

Yumi waved her hand. "It's nothing. Ulrich's the only one who would get in any trouble and it's not like he hasn't been in hot water before. Besides, it's what friends do."

She knew that Raphael knew the real reason they offered (insisted, really) that they kept Kiwi at Kadic. And she wondered sometimes how much their plan would actually work.

Raphael sighed and then shrugged, a grin forming on his face. "I guess you win," he laughed. "Take me to my little diggity dog."

They sprinted across campus to the dorms but were still soaked by the time they entered the building. It was silent, everyone curled up in their rooms and minding their own business as the rumbles of thunder got closer. The lights seemed dimmer and Yumi found herself just waiting for the psycho to crash through one of the doors. But nothing moved.

Their wet shoes made squeaking noises as the walked down the hall to Ulrich's door. Raphael pulled out a silver chain he kept around his neck. On it was no less than seven keys. He easily picked out the one he was searching for and unlocked Ulrich's door before throwing the chain back around his neck and tossing it under his shirt.

The door swung open and the two walked in. Kiwi, smelling his master leaped up and tackled Raphael to the ground. Raphael laughed as his face was drenched yet again, this time by slobbery dog.

Yumi laughed behind her hand. "I had no idea that one dog could contain so much force," she mused.

"Only this dog!" Raphael said proudly, scratching Kiwi behind the ears. Kiwi panted in settled down, resting on Raphael's leg. Raphael slowly scooted so he was leaning against Ulrich's spare bed, the one that never got filled.

Or, as everyone in their little group of friends called it, Raphael's bed.

"It's good to back," he murmured.

Yumi cocked an eyebrow. "Where were you, anyway? You didn't call or text or anything. We were worried. Jeremie was about this close to trying to track your phone. Ulrich was this close to helping him."

Raphael shook his head and dug in his pocket until he pulled out his cell phone. He tossed it to Yumi he caught it easily and began to examine it.

"You completely destroyed it!" she said, poking at the busted screen and looking through the small hole in the top, right corner. "What were you _doing_?"

"A little bit of this, a little bit of that," Raphael shrugged. "You guys seemed busy, if the amount of return trips were anything to go by. I was beginning to get a little bit dizzy there. Constantly having to retrace my steps."

"We use more return trips when you're not with us," Yumi said, suddenly taking an interest in the lightning flashing outside the window. "It makes Jeremie feel better. In case you get into a bit of trouble. That way, you can get out of it."

She heard him quickly stand up and could only imagine his expression. Eyes wide and innocent and hand over his heart. She knew what was coming next.

"Me? In trouble?"

Yumi didn't turn around but she heard Raphael sink onto his bed. "It really helped me out, a couple of times there. Thanks."

"Thank Jeremie," Yumi said.

"Speaking of which, we should probably go tell the Einstein that I'm here now," Raphael said. "Otherwise he'll probably kill us."

"Oh, I know you're here," a voice said from the doorway. Quickly, Raphael and Yumi turned their heads to see Jeremie standing in the doorway.

"I tried calling Yumi," Jeremie explained when he saw their gaping. "She didn't answer, so I figured to see I would check around. I didn't really expect to find her here. Or you," he said, turning to Raphael."

"What can I say? I'm a man of many surprises.

"I'll say," grumbled Yumi.

Raphael smiled and leaned back on his bed. "I'm completely wiped out, guys. I'll tell you about it sometimes. But right now, I think I really just need sleep."

Yumi took a blanket off of Ulrich's bed and threw it onto him. "We went shopping a few weeks back. Your clothes are on the right side of the wardrobe. We didn't know if you would have grown by now or not, so they might be a bit big on you but not too much."

"Yeah," Jeremie added, "we didn't buy anything too big. It would take a miracle for you to not be scrawny."

Raphael grumbled at them, but it was unintelligible because of sleep deprivation and the mountain of blankets Yumi was slowly piling up on his head.

When she was done, Yumi gave Raphael a quick hug and Jeremie patted him on the shoulder and they left.

Raphael's eyes slipped shut and he slept. And slept. And slept.

And eventually woke up standing in the middle of a torrential downpour.

oOo

Yumi scowled as soon as it stopped sprinkling and started pouring. The last time, Raphael and her had made it to the vending machines before they had gotten too terribly soaked.

She heard steps coming from behind her and resisted the urge to whirl around and squeeze Raphael in a hug. Not that he made her worry or anything…

Instead, she felt a hand brush against her shoulder and Ulrich stepped into view. "Einstein updated me," he said by means of an explanation. "When's he due to show up?"

"About fifteen minutes ago," Yumi grumbled. "You think he's okay?"

"I hope," Ulrich said in way of a response. "But he's probably just being careful, making sure to retrace his steps. Making sure he doesn't do something stupid and them following him again."

"It'd be easier if he just stayed here," Yumi said.

Ulrich shrugged. "Not much we can do to change it though."

"You tried though. With Kiwi. At least you gave him something to anchor him."

Ulrich took a deep breath and looked at the trees that surrounded them. "I tried, but he's stubborn. He wasn't going to really stay here. Jeremie and I talked about it one night, and we just figured that the most we could really do was make sure to bring him back."

They waited in silence, until they heard slow steps, ten minutes later.

Raphael came towards them and Yumi had to bit her lip to prevent her from asking the flow of questions that were coming to mind. Raphael looked horrible- he was pale and his hands were shaking.

Ulrich glared at her. "You didn't tell me he was half-dead!"

"He wasn't," Yumi said as she reached forward to grab Raphael.

"What happened?" she asked.

Raphael pouted and Ulrich would have punched him if he didn't think that it would have caused more harm than good. "Haven't eaten in a while," Raphael explained. "Walked a bunch the first time. This time the journey was longer and I ran faster."

Ulrich nodded and ran off in the direction of the school. Yumi threw Raphael's arm over her shoulder and her arm around his waste and they began to walk towards Kadic.

Ulrich greeted them half way with a piece of a baguette. Raphael munched on it as he listened to Yumi and Ulrich update them on everything that had happened during his absence.

"Seriously!" he exclaimed at one point, "you're thinking that you need a new warrior? We do fine, just the three of us, Aelita, and the Einstein!"

Ulrich scoffed. "Yeah, we do great. When there are actually three of us."

To his credit, Raphael didn't stop walking. "Good point. So who's my replacement?"

"We don't know yet," Yumi said. "We're still considering potential candidates, it's not like we can just hold auditions are something."

"So who are you thinking about?"

"So far our final three are Theo, Emmanuel, and well…"

"Sissi," Ulrich interjected.

This time, Raphael did stop walking. "Sissi?" he asked.

Yumi shrugged halfheartedly with a fake smile. "That's what we all said too. She was actually Aelita's suggestion. Aelita feels that with the amount of snooping around Sissi does, she'd be more of a help to us simply by not always trying to sabotage us."

"Plus she almost really did go to Lyoko," Ulrich said. "But we're still making decisions," he added in hastily. "And we're not going to finalize anything without asking you first. You're still part of our group."

Raphael smiled as the three hurried inside the dorm, forgoing the vending machines. They scurried inside, on the lookout for Jim and Raphael collapsed onto his bed as soon as they entered the room. Ulrich dug around the drawers before pulling out some snacks and tossing them to the other bed. Yumi began evenly distributing the blankets. Raphael focused on eating.

"When did you end up waking up?" Yumi asked. "Jeremie and I came to check on you and you were still out of it."

"Right after the rain started on my end. Different rainstorm. And I'm still tired!"

Ulrich whistled. "You really were tired. If you're that hungry I don't know if all the food in the world is going to be enough. I've seen how much you eat when you're stuffed."

Raphael laughed but continued eating. Once he was full (thanks to Ulrich's now depleted supply of snacks, just for emergencies like this), he went back to sleep. He didn't know how long he was asleep, but when he groggily woke up Yumi was gone, it was pitch black outside, and Ulrich was reading a book with a flashlight. It was still raining though. At this rate, they would have to build an arc.

"Ulrich Stern, reading," Raphael said lowly. "I shouldn't leave for so long next time. You may start suddenly enjoying the opera or take pleasure from playing chess. Or maybe even stop failing physics."

Ulrich threw a pillow at him.

"You're right. There's nothing in this world that could possibly save your physics grade. My bad."

Now Ulrich was just ignoring him.

Raphael was silent for a few minutes as Ulrich continued to read. With a sigh, he got up and started stretching. "Is the factory all clear now?"

Ulrich eyed him. "Yeah, but there's no use sneaking there this late at night. Or early in the morning. And you can always stay here, you know."

"Yeah, I know," Raphael said. "But I'm not tired right now so I might as well go get everything set up. You should go to sleep. There's no point in staying up late just because I'm here."

Ulrich coughed as if there was exactly a point in staying up late because he was there. Raphael grinned. "I guess it can wait until morning," he conceded.

Ulrich nodded and turned off the lights, finally getting some sleep. Raphael laid silently in his bed, and before he realized it, he slipped yet again into sleep.

And woke up to the pain of colliding with the floor.

The lights were on and the window showed a deep, inky blue. The rain had eventually let up but he could still make out purple thick, threatening clouds. The trees swayed lightly in the breeze and he could hear the beginning chirps of the birds waking up.

Ulrich was standing next to his own bed, watching Raphael intently. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Raphael gasped. He took a few seconds to try to get a hold of his breathing- and his heart rate, which was through the roof. "Was I having a nightmare or something?"

Ulrich slowly nodded.

"That's funny." Raphael chuckled. "Because I can't remember anything about it. It must not have been too bad."

"You fell onto the floor," Ulrich said.

Raphael grimaced. "You have a point there. So maybe it was bad. Either way, good thing I don't remember now. But since we're both awake, what's on the agenda for the day? Let's start with what day is it?"

Ulrich smirked and Raphael's smile widened before he suddenly lurched forward into blackness.


End file.
